


stop and stare (can you see what i see?)

by mondeblue



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, M/M, Roommates, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 11:16:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12725595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mondeblue/pseuds/mondeblue
Summary: Everyone knows Jae and Brian are dating- that is, except for Jae and Brian.





	stop and stare (can you see what i see?)

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Остановился и замер (видишь ли ты то же, что и я?)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13594512) by [double_knot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/double_knot/pseuds/double_knot)



> TO PREVENT CONFUSION- this is written in alternating POVs, starting with Brian.

   “Hey,” Jae starts as they’re five minutes into the movie, “did you know Dowoon thinks we’re dating?”

    Brian blinks at him as the opening credits roll through the screen. Jae’s feet are on his lap and the popcorn bowl is on his feet, and maybe that’s a little gross but there’s no arguing with Jae when it comes to his absurdities. “Dowoon thinks a lot of things,” he settles for saying _._ “He’s reaching _that_ phase.” He tosses a piece of popcorn at Jae, who catches it in his mouth.

    “You’re right,” Jae sighs dramatically, and his toes wiggle in his socks for- added effect? Nothing makes any sense with Park Jaehyung. “Kids these days - they grow up so fast, don’t they? I remember back in our day, when we had nothing but hope and our own imagination-”

    Brian sighs. “Jae, he’s only three years younger. And you’re, like, five mentally, so that doesn’t even matter.”

    Jae pouts - it makes him look even more chicken-like - and in one move he’s moved the bowl off his feet and launched himself forward to drape bony arms over Brian’s shoulders. “I’m hurt,” he whines, and Brian has to restrain a shudder at the feeling of breath ghosting over his ear, a nose prodding into his temple. “You’re breaking my heart, Brian.”

    Brian swallows. It’s weirdly intimate, like this - alone in the dark with the clock nearing midnight and a musical about love lighting up the TV. Not uncomfortable, no - things are rarely uncomfortable with Jae, who talks too much and laughs too loud and would embarrass himself just for the sake of easing the mood. But he can feel the redness creeping up his skin, so he pushes Jae off and chokes out a, “you’re not even watching the movie.”

    Jae’s pout fades, and he pulls himself away and tucks himself into the opposite end of the couch. They watch the rest of the movie in silence, and Brian doesn’t think about how cold he feels without the other against him.

\--

    It’s Wednesday. They’re grabbing their daily before class coffee, silent out of mutual exhaustion. The steam from his drink is fogging up his glasses when Brian says, out of nowhere, “Wonpil does too.”

    Jae blinks. It’s cold - even Brian, proud survivor of the Canadian winter, is bundled up in a scarf and gloves. His voice comes out in a croak and a puff of condensation when he says, “What?”

    Brian rolls his eyes. It’s very condescending and very Brian and it, of course, makes Jae want to throw his arms around his shoulders and kiss him. Then again, Brian could tell him an incredibly graphic story about explosive diarrhea and it would still make Jae want to kiss him. “He thinks we’re dating,” he clarifies, and oh. Jae is glad he’s drowning in his coat, so he can hide his grin. “Dowoon’s somehow convinced him that we’re hiding it because we want to mess with them.”

    “I think we should tell them,” Jae says seriously, which earns him a _look_. The look that’s unimpressed and dismissive but also really hot, and maybe a little exasperated but in that unendingly fond way. The look that’s a lot of the reason he does stupid shit like joke about them dating even as his heart twists. “We can’t hide your pregnancy forever, babe.”

    He watches Brian choke a little on his coffee, grins as he smacks him on the arm. “You’re a dumbass,” he says, but Jae thinks that maybe the pink on his cheeks deepens a little. Maybe. “Also, why am I the pregnant one?”

    “Because taller tops, obviously,” Jae answers. He doesn’t know why he’s doing this - it’s only going to cause him more pain when Brian eventually shuts the joke down with some unintentionally insensitive joke about how it’ll never happen. “I figured you’d at least know _that_ , you offensively heterosexual man.”

    He’s looking down at their feet, walking through the snow in tandem, so he doesn’t miss it when Brian’s steps falter a little. On the other hand, though, he wishes he’d seen Brian’s expression, because it’s then that he says, “how do you know I’m straight?”

Jae trips and falls flat on his face, because of course he does.

There's snow in his collar when Brian reaches down to pull him up, laughing mercilessly. Jae feigns hurt and pouts a lot but the sight of Brian, cheeks pink and nose crinkled, makes it hard to keep up the act. “Would you at least give a brother a warning before you drop shit like this?”

Brian's smile fades, and he turns away to face forward. Jae kind of hates himself for admiring his jawline in a clearly emotional moment. “I figured,” he shrugs, all that natural charisma and confidence wavering under scrutiny, “you being so open about your sexuality and all, you wouldn't mind-”

“Of course I don't mind,” Jae interrupts, way too loud. The snow in his collar is starting to melt, cold burning through the skin around his neck. “I don't care whether you want to suck dick or not, man, I just always assumed you didn't-”

“Please don't phrase it like that,” Brian says, but he's grinning when Jae turns to look at him so he figures it's okay.

Well- okay for Brian, of course. For Jae, though- this changes a lot of things.

\--

“You know, you don't have to hide whatever's going on with Jae from the rest of us,” Sungjin starts the second Brian picks up the phone.

“I'm hanging up on you,” Brian informs.

“Kang Younghyun, I swear to all that is holy-” is all that makes its way through the phone before Brian taps on the end call button and the line goes silent. He pushes himself off the counter and walks out the kitchen, balancing his phone in one hand and a bowl of soup in another. Some of the steaming liquid sloshes over the rim and onto his fingers, and he winces and tries not to swear.

“Making me soup? You're such a good wife,” Jae teases from the couch, where he's lying surrounded by blankets and balled up napkins. His voice is nasal and the skin around his eyes and nose is a blotchy red. He sneezes, and the sound echoes through their tiny apartment. “This is why you're the pregnant one in this relationship.”

“Shut up,” Brian warns, handing him the bowl before moving his legs to clear up a space to sit. “I'm missing class for you, you ungrateful shit.”

“Dude, you're studying business administration. What is there to miss?” Jae rolls his eyes, although it's hard to see when his glasses have slipped low on his nose. Without thinking, Brian reaches out and pushes them back up. When he pulls away, Jae’s eyes are wide, mouth slightly agape.

When neither of them have said anything for longer than excusable, Brian clears his suddenly dry throat and says, “What?”

“Nothing.” Jae forces a smile on his face, like he doesn't know Brian can tell it's fake. “Let's watch a movie, shall we? I'm thinking… 21 Jump Street?”

“Not a very winter-y movie,” Brian comments, but he types ‘21’ in the search bar anyways because, hey, there's no saying no to Jae. Especially not when you're Brian.

“Not everyone embodies winter like you do,” Jae shoots back, and just like that they're back to the familiar Jae and Brian. Jae and Brian, the best friends who yell at each other in English and Korean and occasionally really angry guitar chords. Jae and Brian, who go out for coffee every morning.

Jae and Brian, and just like that, the weird tension hanging between them is reduced to near nothingness - until one of them does something stupid again, of course. And it's nice, or at least should be nice, but there's a weird feeling buzzing underneath Brian's skin, and he spends the entire movie trying not to look at Jae.

\--

“Can you give these to your boyfriend? They’re the notes from the class he missed.” Brian's classmate - a cute girl with blonde hair chopped into a clean bob - pushes a stack of papers into his chest. She's short, tiny really, and looks up at people through her eyelashes. “Tell him he owes me one.”

“I will.” Jae finds it hard to swallow. “He's, uh, not my boyfriend though.”

She blinks at him. “Really? From the way he talks about you, I always thought you were together.”

Jae forces a laugh through gritted teeth. “Yeah, I, uh… I wish,” he admits.

Her eyes go wide. “Ah,” she says. “That's… unfortunate.”

Jae purses his lips, nods a little. In the back of his mind, the Brian that lives in his brain asks, _how do you know I'm straight?_ “Yeah,” he says. “It really is.”

\--

They go home for the holidays- Jae to America, Brian to its colder, friendlier neighbor. “You know,” Jae says, “you're welcome to visit anytime.”

Brian crams another notebook into his bag. “I don't see why not,” he says. “Your parents like me better, anyways.”

“You're right and it's awful.” Jae throws a neck pillow at him and misses. “Here, come sit on my suitcase so I can zip this thing up.”

Brian complies, tossing his clothes in favor of walking over to Jae’s side of the room and dropping onto his bulging suitcase. His weight flattens the clothes underneath, and he hears Jae whistle.

“It’s rude to make fun of people’s weight, you know,” Brian says, watching Jae kneel down and start to work on the zipper. He twists himself around so he's lying on the suitcase stomach down, staring directly into Jae’s whorl of bleached hair. His roots are showing a little, hair fluffy from good care. Brian kind of wants to touch it, and- well.

Well. He woke up ten minutes ago and their coffee maker is at Sungjin’s place, so it's all a little hazy and he doesn't realize he's carding his fingers through Jae’s hair until he is. He swears he's a lot more reasonable when he's fully conscious.

Jae’s head flies up so fast Brian wonders if his neck’s okay. “What are you doing?” He asks, but there's no mirth or mischief in his voice or his eyes. He's got his lame glasses on, the ones that are too big for his face, and his lips are pressed together in barely contained distress. It's a sight Brian's only seen once - and an expression he never thought he’d be the cause of. It makes something like guilt twist in his chest.

He swallows. “You touch my hair all the time,” he says, but it sounds feeble even to his own ears. Jae scoffs, his breath billowing across Brian's upper lip and - wow, they are very close. When did they get this close?

“Yeah, but you never- you're not in lo-” Jae closes his eyes, visibly swallows. He stands up and steps away, leaving Brian feeling empty. “Just- don't do it unless you mean it, okay?”

Brian nods, confused. In his suitcase - the very bottom, left from the last time he’d visited home - is a box of guitar picks from his parents with the note _for Jae, your boyfriend._ He hadn't bothered to correct them. Now, he wonders why.

“Okay,” he says finally, even though everything is very far from that. “Okay.”

\--

Brian doesn't visit, doesn’t extend an invitation either. Jae tries to enjoy break without missing him too hard.

“Dude, it's cold as fuck here,” Brian tells him from his computer screen. “It was negative twenty yesterday.”

“Sure you don't want to come down here?” Jae jokes _._ He’d tried to be angry with Brian for the hair incident at the beginning, but only managed to decline 3 call requests before giving in to his massive crush and calling back. “The lowest we get is, like, ten.”

“Ugh, fuck,” Brian groans, and Jae has to fight his way out of a boner at the sound. It's even harder with Brian's morning voice. “You're right. I should pack my bags tonight and get on the earliest train tomorrow morning.”

“Ooh, romantic,” Jae teases, because he is awful to himself. “I'm swooning, Brian.”

“Shut up,” Brian huffs, but Jae thinks he can see fondness in his pixelated smile. “My parents already think we're dating, you know that?”

Jae feels his smile slipping off his face, forces it back on. “What can I say? I'm pretty irresistible.”

“You're an idiot is what you are,” Brian scoffs. “Don't forget to study for exams, alright?”

“What are you, my mom?” Jae jokes, just as he’s called for dinner. “I gotta go,” he says, moving the cursor to the end call button. “Dinner. See you in two days?”

“Yeah, see you,” Brian says before the screen goes black. Jae tries not to feel too disappointed.

\--

“This is treason,” Jae says the moment he opens the door.

“Missed you, too,” Brian jokes.

“I can't believe,” Jae says, following him into the living room without offering help, “you dyed your hair without telling me. I had to find out through Sungjin. Sungjin! What's next, becoming a monk and moving to the Himalayas?”

“Like you’d ever give up Twitter,” Brian says, leaving his suitcases by the TV and jumping backwards onto the couch. Jae follows him and within seconds has taken up three quarters of the space with his long-ass limbs, forcing Brian to shove his legs out of the way. “Asshole,” he mutters, but can't mean it when Jae’s wearing the sweater that makes him look like a puppy. His hair is even more blonde now, approaching white after another touch-up, and it contrasts with Brian’s own deep purple. Their hair colors reflect their personalities nicely, Brian thinks.

Jae hums, leaning forward to wrap a strand of Brian’s hair around his fingers. He's gentle despite his loud voice and gangly limbs, and Brian tries not to melt. “I like this better than the orange,” he says, and it's become all too quiet and all too tense and the buzzing underneath Brian's skin has become unbearable.

“Jae,” he starts, “Why does everyone think we're together?”

“I don't know,” Jae says, and his eyes are unreadable but the set of his mouth speaks only of pain. Brian doesn't understand why. Jae’s hand is still in his hair, shadows filling the exposed parts of his collarbones.

 _I missed you,_ he thinks, says only “Did you study for exams?”

“Ah, fuck,” Jae yells. Brian forces himself to smile.

\--

Brian knows. Brian knows about Jae’s massive crush on him and is using it to fuck with him for some emotionally sadistic reason. That's the only explanation.

Or rather, it _would_ be the only explanation, but Brian is a genuinely nice guy underneath his snide remarks and dismissive eyebrow raises and Jae knows for a fact he wouldn't do something like this. So why?

“Girlfriend troubles?” the barista asks sympathetically, handing him his latte. She's pretty, well-put together, probably has a cool major like psychology or astronomy. Jae would probably be in love with her if he weren't in love with his problematic and beautiful best friend.

“Boyfriend,” he corrects before he can stop himself. It only makes it hurt worse.

\--

Exams come around, which means they stop speaking to each other and spend most nights locked up in their respective rooms studying, coming out only to cry sporadically over instant noodles. Even daily before-class coffee is put on hold. In between textbooks and indecipherable notes, Brian tries not to miss Jae too much when he's right next door.

The week passes. Brian does okay, as usual- there's not much to fail in business administration. He's walking back from his last exam when he hears something strangely similar to a battle cry and winds up face down on the damp ground.

“Let's go on a road trip!” It takes Brian half a second to identify the voice next to his ear as Jae’s, and to pair it with the weight sitting on his back and squeezing the breath out of his lungs. “Come on, man, we have to celebrate.”

“Get off,” he says, trying not to touch the dirt with his mouth. The weight disappears, and he scrambles to his feet before it can come back. In front of him, Jae is bouncing on his heels like a child, cheeks flushed and sweater swallowing his already skinny frame. He's not wearing glasses, hair falling into his face, and his skin glows in the sunlight. He claps his hands together - Brian swallows at the sight of oversized sleeves engulfing his fingers.

“Let's go,” he insists, and Brian can never say no to Jae, can he?

\--

They plan on driving down to the seaside, but only make it about halfway before the sun starts dipping into the horizon. They spend all their meagre college-student money on fast food and gas station candy and sing along to shitty radio music because any fight over the AUX cord will probably end with the car in a ditch. By the time Brian finds a hill with a decently good view to park the car on, Jae’s voice is scratchy and his contacts have dried out. It hurts like a bitch, but Brian looks all _Rebel Without a Cause_ with his windblown hair and leather jacket and dangly earrings and Jae’s not admiring that view in anything other than HD.

“There's a blanket in there somewhere, I think,” he says when Brian opens the trunk, arms full of half eaten burgers and pop. He finds it eventually and they set up on the hill, some weird parody of a romantic picnic with the sun setting in front of them and the freeway at their backs. They have a burping contest- Jae wins, of course. Brian threatens to push him down the hill - and make up stupid songs on the spot with the out of tune guitar that Jae shoved into the backseat at the last minute. It's so nice, it almost drowns out the painful realization of how bad Jae’s feelings have gotten. Almost.

But of course- almost is never enough, is it?

\--

Brian's grateful they've lapsed into comfortable silence, because he's not sure he’d be able to hear Jae over the buzzing in his ears.

The stars are almost out and he's cold as fuck but the side of him that's pressed up against Jae is unbearably warm, electricity sizzling in his nerves. The feeling that's been sitting under his skin for the better part of a month has risen to the surface, and it all feels like watching a tsunami-sized wave of destruction approach him without being able to do anything besides drown. The guitar hums under his cold fingers, and he realizes abruptly that he's been playing only minor chords for the past ten minutes.

“Look,” Jae’s voice breaks the silence, and Brian follows his outstretched finger to a spot in the dark sky. “The stars are coming out.”

Brian looks, and sure enough small beads of light show themselves in the clear night, reflecting the skyline below. A brisk wind picks up, then, and Brian scoots closer to Jae without thinking much of it, tucking his hands into the crook of his elbow. He doesn't miss the way Jae’s voice catches in his throat, thinks back to that box of guitar picks and the twenty people who think they're dating.

“I've always thought stars were like people,” Jae says. Brian turns to look at him. His bangs are falling into his face and his skin glows against the cable knit of his sweater and here, outlined in the red of the headlights behind them, he looks a lot less like all the things he claims to look like and a lot more like an angel. “It's all dark at first, but once you take the time to stop and stare the light eventually comes out.”

“Stop and stare, huh?” It's a shitty joke - a reference to a past cover of a song - but Brian needs to say something to keep his head above the surface. Jae chuckles, though, and Brian knows he should be looking at the view but he can't look away.

“I think this town really is sick of us,” he says, and that's approximately when Brian realizes he’s in love with his best friend.

Shit.

Jae is saying something else -probably something dumb and very, very Jae- but Brian can't hear him because _he is in love with his best friend._ “Sorry,” he says, scrambling to his feet. Jae stands up, too, looks confused and a little afraid. Looks so good it hurts and _how had he not realized before?_

Dowoon, Wonpil, Sungjin, their parents - even Ayeon from class who’s met Jae once thinks they’re dating. Hell, they basically are - they watch movies together once a week and go out for coffee daily. Brian makes Jae soup when he’s sick and they call every night when they’re in different countries and there’s a box of guitar picks at the bottom of his suitcase with the note _for Jae, your boyfriend._ His life is divided cleanly into time spent with Jae and time wondering how Jae would react if he were spending time with Jae.

“Sorry, I have to- I have to go,” he says desperately, doesn’t realize he’s running away until Jae reaches out and grabs his wrist. It lights his skin on fire. “I have to- sorry, I’m so sorry, I-”

“Brian, what’s going on?” God, Jae looks so afraid and Brian feels so bad about it but he can’t be here right now, not in front of the person he’s been in love with for maybe ever. Before they even met, maybe - maybe he’s been looking for Jae in all his past girlfriends. Maybe he’s been looking for Jae in everything.

“I don’t know,” he says. His phone is almost dead but he twists his hand out of Jae’s grip and fishes it out of his back pocket, dials Sungjin’s number. “I don’t know.”

He turns and walks away, doesn’t stop until he can’t see Jae or the car anymore.  Sungjin picks up on the fifth ring. “Jesus, what is it?”

“I’m in love with Jae, please pick me up,” Brian says, and that’s all Sungjin needs to hear. He gives him the address and hangs up, tries not to die of hypothermia until Sungjin’s truck rolls up and he climbs in, heart as numb as his fingers.

“You’re an idiot,” is all Sungjin says before he’s starting the engine again.

\--

    He’s an idiot.

    This is the fourth time he’s had to pull over, clock approaching midnight and nowhere near campus. The fourth time he’s had to hunch over, gripping the wheel hard, and tried not to cry. The fourth time he’s thought about the look in Brian’s eyes and the way he’d left him on that hill and he’s not even anywhere near campus.

    He’s an idiot. He’s an idiot who’s in love with his best friend and had said too much, maybe, come on too strong and scared said best friend away. Brian had realized something, then - he’d seen it, seen the clarity and the fear before he was stumbling away and Jae was alone with nothing but their sad parody of a picnic and crushing self-hatred. In one move, he’d lost both his best friend and maybe the love of his life - in one second, he’d created a gap between them that would take years to repair. All because he doesn’t know how to be subtle. All because he’s so, so in love with his best friend that he’s lost all reason.

    He’s an idiot.

    The apartment is empty when he finally stumbles through the door. Brian’s flannel is thrown over the back of the couch and his bass is leaned against the dining table and the sight of it makes Jae want to cry all over again. His phone buzzes with a text from Sungjin, and he gets his password wrong five times before he can see what it is.

    _He’s at my place,_ the first one reads. Then, _I’m sorry._

    Jae sits down hard on the couch.

\--

    Brian drops onto the couch.

    “How long?” is all he asks, as Sungjin sits next to him. “How long have you guys known?”

    “I don’t know about the others,” Sungjin says carefully, like Brian is porcelain, “but for me, it was when Jae brought your bass to class. Younghyun, you don’t let _anyone_ touch your bass.”

    “Fuck,” Brian curses. “Wasn’t that, like-”

    “Five months ago? Yeah,” Sungjin confirms.

“Fuck,” Brian repeats. “How about- how about the others?”

“For me, it was Wonpil’s birthday party.” Dowoon walks into the room and takes a seat on Brian's other side, drying his hair with a towel. He's dripping water onto the leather, and Sungjin frowns at him. “You arrived together and you left together and you were basically inseparable. Sungjin and Wonpil didn't let me say anything, though,” he sulks, pushing his lower lip out. It reminds Brian of Jae, which brings a whole new wave of pain.

 _Basically inseparable._ There's no saying no to Jae, especially not if you're Brian. It was so obvious - why had he not noticed before?

He buries his face in his hands and feels despair. “What do I do?” he mumbles. “I'm in love with my best friend. I'm in love with my best friend and now I'm going to ruin everything.”

“Oh my god.” Dowoon sounds horrified. “You were right. He really doesn't have a clue, does he?”

Brian slowly lifts his face out of his hands. “Have a clue about what?”

Sungjin sighs, exchanges a look with Dowoon. Brian feels like he should be bracing himself for something. “Younghyun,” he starts slowly, “How long do you think you've been in love with Jae for?”

Brian stops himself before he can say _forever._ “I don't know, a year, probably? At least six months.”

“Jae’s been in love with you for at least twice that long,” Dowoon blurts out. Brian turns to look at him so fast his neck strains, but it's a triviality when Dowoon is saying things that feel like liquid fire down his spine. “Jae’s been in love with you basically from the moment you met.”

Brian blinks, and suddenly he's back to five hours ago, sandwiched between the sunset and the freeway. Jae’s hand is on his wrist, eyes confused and- and afraid.

Afraid. Oh, god- if Brian's feeling this way now, how badly is Jae hurting?

_For Jae, your boyfriend._

“I have to go,” he says, standing up and throwing his jacket on. Dowoon moves to get up, too, but Sungjin puts a hand on his arm and shakes his head at him. “Sungjin, I owe you dinner, okay? And- and exam notes. And maybe a new guitar strap, if you guilt trip me well enough. Dowoon, you don't get anything because you still owe me like half your soul.”

“Don't do anything stupid!” Sungjin calls, before he's out the door and into the night.

\--

Jae gives up on sleep long before the knock at the door comes.

The clock reads somewhere in the early morning and he's probably waking the neighbors with his angsty guitar playing, but a couple of angry tired college students is a lot better than hours lamenting silently in bed. He's sitting on the floor, wearing Brian's flannel because he's an awfully masochistic human being. The bowl of ramen in front of him stopped steaming hours ago. Every time he doesn't focus on what he's playing, his fingers slip and he starts playing Stop and Stare and it's all really fucking pathetic but he doesn't care.

Then the knock comes.

“Door’s open,” he calls, even though the only people who knock on college dorm doors at 3 in the morning are serial killers and drunk sorority girls. Considering who it actually is, he wishes he’d hoped for the other options.

The door swings open. “You're wearing my shirt,” Brian says.

Jae almost drops the guitar.

“Brian,” he says, scrambles to his feet. He leaves his heart on the floor behind him. “Hey, I uh-”

“How long?” Brian interrupts. It's like he crossed the floor and stomped on Jae’s heart, except he's still so, so far away. It's a distance that brings both relief and longing. “How long have you-”

“So long,” Jae says. It's been building up to this - every movie night, every morning coffee. The memory of Brian's fingers in his hair, Brian's flannel falling off his shoulders. Brian, Brian, Brian, and now he can't stop talking even if he wanted to. “So long, but I'll get over it if you want me to, I can- if you want me to leave I can stay with Sungjin or whatever-”

Brian crosses the room in five strides and kisses him. Everything else is effectively rendered insignificant.

When they pull away, Brian's grin is big and dumb and beautiful. “I love you, too, you dumbass,” he says. Jae closes his eyes and hears angels sing.

“I can't believe you said it first,” he whines, and Brian's laugh fills up all the gaps in his chest.

\--

“Here,” Brian says, dropping the box onto Jae’s lap. His glasses are falling off his nose when he looks up, and Brian huffs and rolls his eyes but pushes them back up in a way that he hopes will convey his fondness. From the way Jae’s grin lights up, it's clear the message gets through. “From my parents. Should've given these to you a year ago, but…”

“You're emotionally stunted and didn't realize you were head over heels for me?” The twinkle in Jae’s eyes says he knows Brian can't argue. He flips open the lid and inhales loudly at the sight of dozens of guitar picks, scattered around the distinctive glint of metal. Brian thinks he sees tears in his eyes.

“Sorry for losing your capo,” he says in explanation, watching as Jae lifts it to the light. “Actually, no, I'm not sorry, my parents are making me apologize.”

“I'm gonna ignore that last part,” Jae tells him before throwing arms around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his jaw. Brian tries not to melt too visibly. “You're such a good boyfriend,” he coos exaggeratedly. “How am I ever going to one-up this gift?”

“You _are_ the gift,” Brian says sincerely, tells himself that he's allowed to be cheesy and gross once a week. But only once. Besides, he reasons, the embarrassment is worth it when Jae looks so soft and surprised and happy. It also earns him a few more jaw kisses, but that's besides the point.

Of course, though, that's not the real Jae and Brian. The real Jae and Brian is when Jae pulls away and says, “you know I'm never gonna let you forget that you said that, right?”

“I'm breaking up with you,” Brian threatens. As Jae feigns heartbreak, he resigns himself to a lifetime of this.

(But he doesn't mind. Not really.)


End file.
